FLINT TWP, MI – It was roughly a year ago when James "Woody" "Bucherie had an idea to bring former Carman High School students together.

Fresh off a reunion of sorts that featured 150 past students at Brick Street Bar and Grill in Grand Blanc, the Las Vegas businessman and 1971 Carman High School graduate decided he'd start a Facebook group so alumni could keep in touch.

It quickly grew beyond his expectations.

"I started 'Carman Talk' and in the first weeks we had 300 people," he said. "Then we went to 400, 500, 600 and pretty soon we had 800. Now we're up to 2,500."

And of those 2,500, more than 800 are coming back to Flint this weekend to celebrate the school's history.

"Others are catching on," Bucherie said. "It's really created a buzz for people."

The school was open from 1967 until 1986, until it was combined with Ainsworth High School.

Carman High School, 1300 N. Linden Road, became Carman-Ainsworth High School, while Ainsworth High School became the middle school for the new school district.

Besides meeting with many faces he either hasn't seen in years or has only seen from a computer screen, the week's events are an opportunity to raise money for current Carman-Ainsworth students.

The revenue from the events will launch the Carman Cougar Education Foundation, a nonprofit that will feature alumni from Carman High School. Plans for the foundation include providing winter coats and boots to economically disadvantaged children and one scholarship to a Carman High School 2015 graduate.

The group has events throughout the week including:

The group has grown from just individuals talking about the past to a group that helps each other through weight loss challenges, supports each other and even helped find the old Carman High School trophies at Carman-Ainsworth High School.

Carrie Gall-McMahan, a 1978 graduate, joined right around the time the group was created and said it has become a community for friends, even though many haven't met each other.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting a lot of them," she said.

And there are big plans for the event as the community continues to grow.

"We'll see how this goes and next year we want to try and double it," she said.